Of all the ways to key out theSawhorror film , " invigorate by a rightful report " likely is n’t one that usually crosses viewers ' considerations , but isSawbased on a rightful narration ? Like John Kramer / Jigsaw , theSawfranchise did n’t fade away as quickly as some gestate . There are now 11Sawmovies , including James Wan ’s inadequate moving-picture show that set forth it all . The franchise has been a turning point - not only for the horror genre - but also for Leigh Whannell and James Wan , who have had successful calling in repugnance and beyond .

While every moving-picture show in the franchise has been relatively popular and successful , see IIIranks first at the box office . The threequel land in nearly $ 165 million globally ( viaThe Numbers ) , which is impressive for such a brutal film . The movies follow Kramer as he buildsthe most sadisticSawtrapsin which his victim make tough decisions or die . Though the concept is reasonably far - fetched , the original inhalation for Whannell and Wan’sSawfranchise are rooted in world . However , while the concept ofSawis based on literal - life stories , isSawbased on a true level ?

Saw’s Jigsaw Killer Was Inspired By A Real-Life Event

Leigh Whannell Based John Kramer On His Own Medical Condition

Leigh Whannell , writer for the first three repugnance films in theSawfranchise and wager Adam in the first film , got the idea for John Kramer ’s character from a real - life experience at a infirmary . In an interview withThe AV Club , Whannell says that when he was 24 , he began to have wicked migraine . direful of something serious like a brain neoplasm , he finally went to the hospital to get a serial publication of tests performed , including an MRI .

Ten gore - filled see moving-picture show have been made to escort , full of excruciating trap galore , and here ’s how the entire franchise stacks up , worst to good .

Then , the initial invention of the Jigsaw orca , theSawmovie ’s independent baddie , came to him . The filmmaker conjured the idea of a sociopath who was told they were going to become flat of a final unwellness . Whannell explained , " alternatively of a doctor severalize you , ' You have a twelvemonth to live , make the best of it , ' this hombre would put people in a situation and say , ' You have 10 minute to live . How are you go to spend those 10 proceedings ? Are you going to get out of it ? ' ”

Collage of Adam, John Kramer, and Dr. Gordon in Saw

Saw’s Zep Character Is Based On A Real-Life Criminal

A Man In Real Life Said He Was Forced To Break Into People’s Houses

The character ofZep in the firstSawmovie , responsible for carrying out Jigsaw ’s kidnappings , wasinspired by a bizarre true storey that James Wan read when he was young . fit in to aSaw IIDVD featurette ( viaYoutube ) , Zep is based on a humankind get around into mass ’s theater at night , not to steal , but to titillate their metrical unit . Wan does n’t give specific positioning or dates about the particular case , but oddly enough , there are more than a few real - life " serial tickler file " crime case .

During interrogation , he evidence police that he was being forced to dedicate the criminal offence by someone else .

The man was eventually catch , and during interrogation , he told police that he was being force to give the crimes by someone else . The criminal later revealed that he was send out a jigsaw puzzle piece in the mail , instructing him to commit the acts . Wan added , " It was the creepiest thing I ’d ever heard , I was so frightened . I call back after get a line that chronicle , I slept for the next two , three dark with a malleus by my bedside . "

A collage image of Luke Skywalker in A New Hope

Is Spiral Based On A True Story?

SpiralIs Based On Un-Checked Police Brutality

Like the otherSawmovies , Spiralisn’t 100 % based on a true write up . However , it similarly draw many of its themes — peculiarly socially witting I — from real life . TheSawinstallment ends with the Apocalypse that Zeke ’s ( Chris Rock ) partner , William ( Max Minghella ) , is the Jigsaw emulator . He sees his string of vehemence as fitting retribution for police officers who abuse their power(police unjustly kill his beginner ) . Zeke ’s Fatherhood ends up killed by a SWAT squad after being framed by William to look as if he ’s holding a throttle in a tense moment .

It ’s easy to see how real - life events regarding police force brutality helped animate part ofSpiral

With the societal climate in the United States being divided over law , how there have been increasing recording of constabulary abusing their power , and the Defund the Police movement , it ’s easy to see how tangible - life events regarding police force brutality avail inspire part ofSpiral . Director Darren Lynn Bousman is quoted byMSN(viaIo9 ) as say about the subject subject and its connector totheSpiralstory timelinein May 2021 :

How Rachel Zegler’s

" I mean , sadly , the realism is this [ police brutality ] has been an exit long before [ the deaths of ] George Floyd and Breonna Taylor . This has been going on for year and years and years … [ But ] we always want to say something with the Saw movies . Even though they ’re eat up in stock and violence and guts and gore , there ’s always messages to them . And that started with James Wan ’s original and move through mine . We always wanted to say something more . I recollect that ’s why the Sawfilms have persevered while so many other franchise have not . ”

How The Saw Sequels Betrayed Its True Story And Real Meaning

The Jigsaw Disciples Broke John Kramer’s Rules

While the earlier movies have inspired the question ofSaw ’s possible basis in real event , the later films of the dealership are too outlandish to warrant it . It ’s deserving noting that fecund repugnance directorJames Wan only helmed the firstSawmovie and co - wroteSaw III.The film maker only stayed on as manufacturer for the rest of the franchise . While this give him some originative control over the sequels , it ’s not the same as being in the conductor ’s chair . This could be one of the cardinal reasonstheSawfranchise has gotten bad over timeand lost its overarching meaning .

Movie Title

Release Date

Collage of Billy the Puppet and Jigsaw

Saw

October 29 , 2004

Saw II

Zep holding a gun in Saw

October 28 , 2005

Saw III

October 27 , 2006

Chris Rock as Ezekiel Zeke Banks and Max Minghella as William Schenk inspecting evidence in Spiral: From the Book of Saw

Saw IV

October 26 , 2007

Saw V

John Kramer wearing makeup to look like the Saw doll

October 24 , 2008

Saw VI

October 23 , 2009

Tobin Bell as Jigsaw looking menacing in Jigsaw

get a line 3D

October 29 , 2010

Jigsaw

Saw 2004 Film Poster

The Saw film franchise is an anthology of horror films centered around the Jigsaw Killer, a mastermind who crafts elaborate traps to test his victims' will to live. Victims, often morally flawed, are forced into gruesome games where they must inflict severe pain on themselves or others to survive.

October 27 , 2017

Spiral

May 14 , 2021

Movies

Saw X

September 29 , 2023

At the beginning of the serial publication , the movies were about a psychopath with a terminal unwellness , abduct unwitting victims to take part in an experimentation that determines what they would do if they knew they had little time left to live . AfterSaw III , the franchise focus more on " torment porn , " andSaw’skill numeration kept getting high .

Saw

There Was A Saw Copycat Killer In Real Life

The Pizza Bomber & Matthew Tinling

Though the inquiry ofSaw’sinspiration from true stories is complicated , it number full circle as the horror franchise went on to work genuine - life events . In 2003 , Brian Wells , a.k.a . the Pizza Bomber , was a victim of what would ’ve been a Jigsaw emulator cause of death had it been a few years afterwards , and it was documented in the Netflix seriesEvil Genius .

Wells was ultimately caught and stop , and just a few minutes before the bomb squad arrived , the volatile gadget was detonated .

The pizza delivery man had an explosive collar locked around his neck , and he was tell that it would detonate if he did n’t complete a scavenger search list , which admit gazump a bank . Wells was at last caught and turn back , and just a few minutes before the bomb squad arrived , the explosive machine was detonated , instantaneously down Wells . The plot was for fiscal gain , and Wells was vote out so that he could n’t reveal anything to the police .

However , the rollout is eerily similar to the Jigsaw killer ’s biz with Zep , who was forced to invest atrocious acts by Kramer as his living was under threat . The criminals catch Wells off - safety , just as Kramer would do , as they consecrate a pizza pie at a desolate transmitting tower at the end of a dirt road . While there are reports that Wells was a machinator , the whole chronological sequence of consequence sounds exactly like aSawmovie and one of Kramer ’s sadistic " game . "

Evil Genius : The True Story of America ’s Most Diabolical Bank Heistis a Netflix documentary film about the Pizza Bomber .

An factual Jigsaw copycat grampus was even more disturbing , as Kramer ’s torture of victims more influence Matthew Tinling than the meticulous planning . Tinling tortured Richard Hamilton by stabbing him 17 time , one of which was when Tinling sliced through the victim ’s spinal cord ( viaDaily Mail ) , which is precisely what happens inSaw VI . The judge also reveal that constabulary ground videodisk of theSawfranchise in his flat . In this font , there ’s no deny Tingling was influenced by theSawseries .

How Saw Adapted A True Story Compared To Other Horror Movies

True write up inspire great deal of revulsion moving picture . The Texas Chainsaw Massacreclaims to be ground on a true story , but its retelling is very lax . The 1970s slasher moving picture is based on the violent death of Ed Gein , similar toPsycho . However , both movies only submit the approximation of the killer whale ’s action and created unique villains that had little to do with the baddie on whom it was based . Other movies likeThe Conjuringare based directly on suppose supernatural occurrences .

If there is a horror motion picture whose breathing in is very standardized toSaw , it isA Nightmare on Elm Street .

However , if there is a repulsion movie whose intake is like toSaw , it isA Nightmare on Elm Street . Its inspiration is almost identical in social organisation toSaw . Much like howSawwas based on Leigh Wannell ’s care or mortality rate , Wes Craven establish Freddy Krueger on a man he saw outside his own home as a child , staring into his window from the tail . Also , likeSaw’sstory , which was ground on the narrative of the Tickler , Craven based his history on a newspaper story he had read at the time .

In Craven ’s case , he read a newspaper story about how vernal manful Southeast Asian refugees were cryptically give way in their sleep . 26 men died , and there were no medical reasons for their deaths . They fell at peace and never woke up . The story also designate some of them were scared to go to sleep due to nightmares they had been own . combine his puerility concern of the man in the alley with the news story helped Craven create Freddy , just like Whannell did to produce Jigsaw inSaw .

The Saw film dealership is an anthology of repugnance films centered around the Jigsaw Killer , a mastermind who crafts elaborate trap to test his victims ' will to live . Victims , often morally blemished , are forced into gruesome game where they must bring down terrible nuisance on themselves or others to survive .